HUMANITARIAN OPENSTREETMAP TEAM 1 5 Y E A RS M APPING OUR W O RL D T O G E T H E R
TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION HOT at a Glance4-5 OVERVIEW Regional Mapping Hubs6-7 ASIA PACIFIC Overview Highlighted Projects 8 9 EASTERN & SOUTHERN AFRICA Overview10 Highlighted Projects11 LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN Overview12 Highlighted Projects13 WEST AND NORTHERN AFRICA Overview14 Highlighted Projects15 PROGRAM Conflict and Displacement16-17 Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Washington D.C., 2026 Team, Any part of this publication may be cited, copied, translated into other languages or adapted to meet local needs without prior permission from the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, provided that the source is clearly stated. CC BY-SA 4.0 Cover photo: Women at an event from the Western and Northern Africa Hub Credit: REFEPAS Table of Content Photo: Map4Mangrove, Credit: Tony Liong TECH Open Source, Community-Led Mapping Workflow18 Connecting our Workflow for Community Accessibility 19 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Welcoming Our New Members20 WHAT'S NEXT Looking Ahead to 2026 and Beyond21 FINANCIAL + PARTNERS Financial Report 2 22 3
1,035,197,349 people were mapped living in an area mapped via HOT's Tasking Manager 2025 2010 - 2025 25k HOT AT A GLANCE 768k MAPPERS MAPPERS Volunteers who have contributed to our mapping initiatives 2025 2010 - 2025 11m Photo Credit: REFEPAS 174m BUILDINGS MAPPED BUILDINGS MAPPED Number of structures digitized by the mappers in OpenStreetMap 2025 WAS A YEAR OF MILESTONES FOR HOT: We celebrated our 15th anniversary and reached our audacious goal of mapping an area home to one billion people. We welcomed a global community of 760,000 volunteers and began shifting our focus to building local capacity and strengthening local mapping. In the midst of our celebrations, we also faced a difficult year in which humanitarian and development work became more challenging due to tightened funding, shifting priorities, extreme disasters driven by climate change, and intensified conflicts. This landscape reaffirmed the value of the work we do: institutional partners turn to us not only as a source for locating buildings, roads, and infrastructure but also because our experience working with communities on the ground enables us to see the complexity behind the data. Local mappers reach out to us for guidance on open source technology and accessible equipment to collect information that supports their needs. We bring all these groups together to tackle the biggest issues of our generation: climate change, disaster risk, urban growth, conflict and displacement. The map is always in motion. Migration, displacement, conflict, climate change, and disasters continuously reshape communities. At the same time, as baseline maps become more available, governments, humanitarian actors, and communities are increasingly asking for deeper, more detailed, and locally grounded data to guide climate adaptation, urban development, public health, and disaster risk reduction. POPULATED AREAS MAPPED Across this report, you will find evidence of this in the work that our four regional hubs are doing around the world: mapping mangroves in Indonesia and providing post-earthquake support in Myanmar; training humanitarian agencies in Tanzania, government officials in Mozambique and local NGOs in Senegal in our community-led mapping methodologies; using accessible tools in Jamaica as a response to Hurricane Melissa and organizing virtual mapathons for anticipatory action in Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru; and supporting the residents and local government of Freetown, Sierra Leone with the creation of local drone operator crews who are capturing detailed imagery of the city in order to improve urban planning. All supported by a connected workflow of free and open source mapping tools, as well as the power of global volunteers, who stepped up to remotely map Khartoum and Beirut and to do field mapping across Africa and the Caribbean for a World Cleanup Day Mapping Challenge. As you explore these cases, I hope you feel the same pride and excitement we feel when we ensure geospatial knowledge and tools are owned by communities and used for the greater good. Happy reading! 170 COUNTRIES WITH ACTIVITIES People living in an area mapped via HOT's Tasking Manager 9k CONTRIBUTORS OVER THE PAST DECADE 9000 Mappers 8000 Validators 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 REBECCA FIRTH EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 2000 1000 0 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 4 23 24 25 26 5 Based on data up to 2025-12-31 collected from humstats.heigit.org,
OUR GLOBAL IMPACT Community Members Hub Project HOT’s four regional hubs bring together local needs with global conversations. Established in 2021 and 2022, they are our direct connection with mappers, local governments, civil society organizations, and people on the ground working together to solve problems with open geospatial data and tools. GEODATA FOR HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND CHILD PROTECTION Tostan and OSM Senegal Orefonde, Matam Region, Senegal JAMAICA FLYING LABS (JFL) Jamaica HURRICANE MELISSA RESPONSE JFL, and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CEDEMA), Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (OPDEM), WeRobotics, and CSOD Jamaica TOMMY CHARLES GEOHAZARDS RISK MAPPING INITIATIVE Head of Sierra Leone’s local OSM Chapter Mokwa, Nigeria Sierra Leone SLUM DWELLERS INTERNATIONAL Sierra Leone Federation of the Urban and Rural Poor (FEDURP) Sierra Leone FREETOWN CITY DRONE MAPPING Freetown City Council and civil society organizations Freetown City, Sierra Leone. WAIRARI ATUN SACHA INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY Colombia GEOSPATIAL CAPABILITIES FOR DISASTER AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES Chokwé, Mapai, & Boane Districts, Mozambique Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador GEOSPATIAL SKILL-BUILDING TO SUPPORT REFUGEES Rwanda SUMAYA RAHMATULLAH EFFAT JAHAN EFA Dhaka, Bangladesh MAP4MANGROVE Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation and Yayasan Lestari Alam Kita EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE Myanmar OpenStreetMap Community and the Centre for Development and Environment of the University of Bern Myanmar OPEN MAPPING GURUS MEETING Metro Manila, Philippines Pandeglang, Banten, Indonesia OpenMap Development Tanzania Kasulu, Tanzania TATIRANO SOCIAL ENTERPRISE Madagascar 6 Mapper and Validator MAP 4 RESILIENCE Leads Instituto Nacional de Gestão e Redução do Risco de Desastres ANNUAL NATIONAL ANTICIPATORY MAPATHONS (MANA) JUSTINE CYURINYAN RIZKY HADWIYANTI Open Mapping Guru Bali, Indonesia 7
Sumaya (left) and Effat (right) in front of plastic waste collected by the local community at MAP4MANGROVE PANDEGLANG, BANTEN, INDONESIA JANUARY 2025 – DECEMBER 2025 Shah Poran for the PLASPIN rewardbased plastic ASIA PACIFIC HUB recycling system Credit: MAP 4 RESILIENCE Through the Climate Resilience Fellowship, Sumaya Rahmatullah and Effat Jahan Efa designed and led MAP 4 RESILIENCE, an initiative strengthening climate resilience and women’s and youth empowerment in Shah Poran, an informal settlement in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Their project cleared 115 kg of recyclable waste from the streets. In addition, 30 youths engaged in photovoice storytelling, documenting waste issues in their area for advocacy. MEET OUR COMMUNITY! 15 Countries 7 Active Projects 16 Active Partnerships 300+ People Trained 8790 Mapping Volunteers Pandeglang, Banten, Indonesia Credit: Tony Liong Tsunamis don’t only affect people; they also affect the ecosystems that sustain us. This is what happened after the 2018 Sunda Strait tsunami, which devastated mangroves across the region. To support the Blue Carbon Program*, an ongoing mangrove rehabilitation effort led by the Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation (KEHATI) and Yayasan Lestari Alam Kita (SALAKA), HOT’s AP Hub established Map4Mangrove to address gaps in monitoring and reporting. Through the project, we mapped 14 hectares across 5 mangrove restoration “With MAP 4 RESILIENCE, our goal was not just to deliver a project, but to help build a community capable of taking action on its own.” ------------ Rizky Hadwiyanti is one of our Open Mapping Gurus, a regional network of dedicated, experienced OSM contributors and champions. This year, she joined us in training members of disaster management agencies in Karangasem and Bali, Indonesia on how to use our suite of open mapping tools for volcanic disaster preparedness. “My journey as a Guru has been a very meaningful experience. My best memory is seeing participants who were hesitant at first become confident using open mapping tools to support their communities. That’s the essence of open mapping: empowering local teams to lead with confidence and purpose.” Sumaya and Effat, Project Leads. ----------In 2025, the AP Hub launched the Open Mapping Guru State of hte map (SotM) 2025 Scholarship, providing Gurus with 13 in-person and 50+ online tickets for State of the Map (SotM) 2025, the annual global gathering of the OpenStreetMap community. Reflecting on her experience, Louise Yvonne Paje shared: "SotM reminded me that even small contributions can create big ripples. Mapping is no longer just about roads and buildings; it's about people, stories, and making sure everyone is seen.” Mount Agung, Bali Credit: Rizky Hadwiyanti MYANMAR Accessibility Public Hospital ---------- in Central Mandalay. This map is an support their operations and HOT team at State Manila, Philippines Credit: Joshua Baranda / Yugto Live (from State of the 8 Map 2025 documentation) INDONESIA *The Blue Carbon Program is funded by PT Asahimas Chemical and supported by the Banten Provincial Government. partners could of the Map 2025 in Metro MYANMAR MARCH 2025 - OCTOBER 2025 use the data to Scholars with Open Map- Toufik Alansar, Marine Program Manager, KEHATI. EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE example of how ping Gurus, AP Hub team, “We’re thankful for our partnership with the HOT Asia-Pacific Hub, whose mapping support helps ensure that we can have the most up-to-date data on the condition and status of our mangroves.” to Nearest Rizky (right) during drone mapping field activities at sites, documenting 8 hectares of existing growth and 6 hectares with potential for restoration. We also trained 62 individuals, 31 of whom were women, including government officials, university lecturers, and students, in open mapping, equipping them to maintain the system after the project's conclusion. Now, the data can be easily accessed through the Map4Mangrove Dashboard, which visualizes mangrove health data and carbon sequestration estimates, with integrated drone imagery and streetlevel images. As a result, this project has improved mangrove rehabilitation efforts in the region through more effective monitoring and reporting. On 28 March 2025, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Central Myanmar, causing extensive damage and casualties. In the wake of the earthquake, we found that many townships were unmapped and that existing OSM data were severely outdated, with some areas showing up to 85% data gaps, which compromised disaster response and recovery planning. With funding from the H2H Network and Virgin Unite, HOT’s AP Hub partnered with Myanmar OpenStreetMap Community (myOSM) and the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) of the University of Bern, Myanmar Branch Office to mobilize over 3,300 remote volunteers. Together, we mapped 29 priority townships, adding 1.7 million buildings and nearly 19,000 km of roads to OSM. The data captured 57% more buildings than AImapped datasets and proved more accurate in both rural settlements and dense urban areas, such as Mandalay. Encouraged by humanitarian partners on the ground, we also piloted a Crowdsourced Damage Assessment methodology in which 16 Myanmarbased Gurus used their local knowledge to identify building damage, mapping a total of 2,469 damaged buildings across 20 townships (930.42 km²). Building, road network, and damage data were used by various actors, as evidenced by approximately 1,500 downloads on the Humanitarian Data Exchange and their use in research on flood risk by institutions such as the UN’s World Food Programme. 9
2025, Ambotry, Tsihombe District, southern Madagascar HIGHLIGHTS In the photo, Irène, the kiosk manager, and Renimanga, the first customer of the day—a small but vital transaction that ensures the community has access to safe water. Credit: Tatirano EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA HUB 21 Countries 12 Active Projects 3 Active Partnerships 539 People Trained 8,528 Mapping Volunteers KASULU, TANZANIA FEBRUARY 2025 – MARCH 2025 Prepared by: Philipo Lugalila ------------ MEET OUR COMMUNITY! Justine Cyurinyan is a mapper and validator from Rwanda who was selected as a 2025 ESA Validator Fellow. She validated building footprints, highways, and waterways across Africa, Asia, and North and South America, contributing over 160,000 buildings and 5,000 km of highways to OpenStreetMap. (For comparison, that’s about one-sixth of the buildings in all of New York City and just 500 km shy of the distance from New York to London.) She has an aptitude for identifying mapping inconsistencies across different imagery sources and managing imagery offsets. "I am proud of the validator I am becoming: bold and confident in contributing quality data. I prioritize quality over quantity and aim to continue creating meaningful impact through mapping." Justine Cyurinyan, Mapper and Validator Justine supporting other mappers during a mapathon held by OSM Rwanda Credit: Eco Mappers Rwanda An aerial view showing the part of Elgeyo Marakwet hit by a landslide. Photo: Kipchumba Murkomen. Source: Facebook - Tuko 10 GEOSPATIAL SKILL-BUILDING TO SUPPORT REFUGEES Tatirano Social Enterprise works in remote communities in Madagascar where women collect water, a task that takes hours each day. Since 2023, with funding from our Open Mapping Grants, Tatirano has tracked water collectors, rainfall patterns, and water system performance. This data overlays with road networks, existing water points, and population density to identify gaps in water access. All data feeds into Statirano, an open-source platform that publicly shares the status of water points and other infrastructure. Managing and analyzing geospatial information is crucial to support refugees living in camps in Tanzania. HOT teamed up with Caribou Space and OpenMap Development Tanzania (OMDTZ) to improve the geospatial skills of staff from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Tanzania office, which operates the Nyarugusu and Kabondo refugee camps. With participation from the Danish Refugee Council and the Norwegian Refugee Council, we conducted a two-week workshop in which their staff learned to independently collect, manage, and analyze geospatial data tailored to their departments' needs, all using open-source tools with no licensing barriers. Through the workshop, they learned how to use this data to gain insights into camp conditions for planning WASH infrastructure, tracking environmental changes, and supporting growing camp populations. Since the training, UNHCR Tanzania has integrated this skill set into its regular operations, with plans to also train camp residents to map their own communities. “From this training, I was able to know how to acquire geospatial data from different sources, [...], I didn’t know there was free data that anyone can download and apply to many GIS applications. [...], now I know exactly where different data types can be accessed”. Godfrey Mchunguzi Oyema, Environment Officer, UNHCR Tanzania ----------Between December 2024 and November 2025, 8,528 global volunteer mappers contributed to seven emergency response projects in the region using the HOT Tasking Manager. Collectively, they mapped 3.15 million building footprints and 61,693 km of roads (for reference: that is three New York Cities' worth of buildings and enough roads to circle the earth one-and-a-half times). The impact has been felt: When different actors (residents, civil society, local government) were asked by a government official how many homes were affected by the Elgeyo Marakwet landslide, they said the only numbers they trusted were from the Kenyan Red Cross due to the work done with HOT’s mappers. Now, the same data is being used to help build homes for those affected. ---------- OPEN GEOSPATIAL CAPABILITIES FOR DISASTER AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES TANZANIA CHOKWÉ, MAPAI, & BOANE, MOZAMBIQUE FEBRUARY 2026 - MARCH 2026 Maputo Training of INGD,CENOE Mozambique 2025 Cyclones like Gezani, which made landfall in Mozambique on February 14 2026, are an example of the climate-related challenges the country faces due to its extensive coastline and nine major river basins. Yet, effective disaster response has been hampered by a lack of detailed geospatial data on vulnerable infrastructure, evacuation routes, and population exposure. With support from the Gates Foundation, we partnered with Mozambique's disaster and planning agencies* to build their mapping capabilities across three priority districts, as well as those of MOZAMBIQUE local government staff and community members. As a result of this project, all three districts now have updated critical infrastructure, evacuation routes, and population exposure data mapped on OpenStreetMap. Government staff have been trained to integrate satellite imagery, process drone data, and use open-source mapping tools, giving agencies the in-house skills to maintain and build on these datasets. Community-collected data has been integrated directly into national disaster response systems, making it available to emergency responders when cyclones, floods, or droughts strike. 11 *Instituto Nacional de Gestão e Redução do Risco de Desastres, Centro Nacional Operativo de Emergência and Fundação para o Desenvolvimento da Comunidade
Members of the Network meeting in-person at HURRICANE MELISSA RESPONSE JAMAICA OCTOBER 2025 - FEBRUARY 2026 ABRELATAM/ CONDATOS, Uruguay 2023 LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN HUB Team from the MEET OUR COMMUNITY! Hurricane Melissa Response in the real-time situational awareness. At the same time, 247 volunteer mappers worldwide rapidly updated OpenStreetMap to support logistics, coordination and early recovery planning. Our partner, Jamaica Flying Labs, led a local drone mapping campaign using HOT’s Drone Tasking Manager to conduct systematic aerial surveys for damage assessments at a level of detail impossible with satellite imagery alone. Now, along with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, we are discussing long-term use of the data, including the potential development of a dedicated ChatMap platform to support household recovery tracking. Caribbean 17 Countries 7 Active Projects 18 Active Partnerships 769 People Trained 6,483 Mapping Volunteers The Open Mapping Network includes organizations and individuals across Latin America that have built sustained open mapping collaborations to share knowledge, strengthen skills, and coordinate efforts. This network includes Co.Mapper, Codeando México, Fundación OpenLab, Meninas da Geo, and UNAULA / POMOTE, as well as individual allies Alessandra Figuereido, Igor Da Mata, Johnattan Rupire, Patricia Llanos, and Virgilio Benavides ------------ Jamaica Flying Labs (JFL) is a trusted HOT partner whose work spans emergency response and capacity-building initiatives, from the Hurricane Melissa response to programs that train women, girls, and students in mapping and drones. Together, we have extended Drone Tasking Manager training to Jamaica and Saint Lucia and co-developed an online course for media professionals. Building on this collaboration, we are partnering with JFL and UNESCO to launch a regional training program on drones, GIS, and AI for disaster planning, equipping media and emergency communicators with skills to use drone imagery and disaster mapping to deliver accurate, actionable information while countering misinformation. . "What keeps these teams going is the understanding that every [drone] flight, every dataset, every assessment will help a community that is hurting and cut off." Authorities know that after any disaster strikes, the first few hours are vital to understand where damage is located and which communities need support first. This is what happened last fall after Melissa, a Category 5 hurricane, made landfall in Jamaica. At that critical time, we deployed a communityled field-mapping campaign in which over 2,000 Jamaican residents joined the call to use our accessible tool, ChatMap. As a result, we collected 234 geolocated reports with photos, videos, and onthe-ground conditions, providing responders with ----------- The Wairari Atun Sacha Indigenous Community in the Colombian Amazon is leading an evidence-based land titling process, strengthening its own technical capacity to document territorial governance and define biodiversity conservation areas aligned with its life projects (the community’s term for management plans). This work is supported by HOT and Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana (UNAULA), with the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research as a funding partner. The initiative is now in a critical advocacy phase before the National Land Agency, where community-generated geospatial evidence is supporting formal recognition and long-term protection of ancestral territory. Dr. Valrie Grant, Managing Director, JFL ---------Team from the Hurricane ANNUAL NATIONAL ANTICIPATORY MAPATHONS The Municipal Cabos actively participated in the mapping process In Santa Rosa, Cauca, Colombia, the UNAULA and HOT team conducted a participatory mapping training session with the Cabildo Wairari Atún Sacha of the Inga 12 people. JAMAICA MEXICO ECUADOR COLOMBIA PERU MAY 2025 - DECEMBER 2025 (IMPLAN) of Los Caribbean Representative from the Ministry of Economic Growth & Infrastructure PERU, MEXICO, COLOMBIA, ECUADOR Institute of Planning Melissa Response in the “ChatMap … has been an invaluable tool in our relief efforts. It has provided critical situational awareness and streamlined the way we monitor damage to buildings across the island.” Our experiences supporting disaster-affected communities have taught us an important lesson: geospatial data works best when collected before the disaster strikes. That’s the guiding vision behind Annual National Anticipatory Mapathons (MANA): organized mapathons across four Latin American countries that generate open geospatial data, which is then used to strengthen disaster preparedness at the local and national levels. In Peru, youth and university networks mapped 17,243 buildings, and in Mexico, the largest MANA activation to date, saw 970 contributors. Ecuador’s third national mapathon reinforced long-term institutional collaboration, with 145 contributors from a wide range of organizations mapping 24,186 buildings and 631 km of roads. In Colombia, the resulting basemaps enabled municipalities to create and update 16 data-driven Municipal Risk and Disaster Management Plans, and additional government entities have joined to create data for other sectors, such as public health. In total, the four mapathon series engaged thousands of volunteers and added over 465,000 buildings and hundreds of kilometers of roads to OpenStreetMap, filling critical data gaps that directly inform anticipatory action, risk assessment, and territorial planning in climate-vulnerable areas. 13
GRMI’s founder, Taiwo Ogunwumi, presenting his research at a conference. GEODATA FOR HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND CHILD PROTECTION this by providing training to 10 local NGOs on data OREFONDE, MATAM REGION, SENEGAL SEPTEMBER 2024 - APRIL 2025 WEST AND NORTHERN AFRICA HUB The GeoHazards Risk Mapping Initiative (GRMI) focuses on creating detailed maps of areas at risk of natural hazards, including floods, drought, and heatwaves, to inform and support disaster preparedness, mitigation, and response. After the Mokwa floods impacted north-central Nigeria in May of 2025, GRMI developed an open-access interactive dashboard using data gathered from a post-disaster mapping campaign in TM, which the Nigerian Red Cross used to better understand the scale and spatial distribution of impacts. 24 Countries 4 Active Projects 18 Active Partnerships 498 People Trained 6,300+ Mapping Volunteers ------------ MEET OUR COMMUNITY! Tommy Charles is the national coordinator of Sierra Leone’s local OpenStreetMap chapter. He joined the OpenStreetMap community in 2016 and has been a key contributor to our project in Freetown, where he has coordinated dronemapping training sessions and shared practical knowledge on integrating mapping techniques and software for both new and existing mappers. “Humanitarian mapping projects help one to understand the world we live in. It exposes you to the realities of communities around the world and how the challenges they face can be addressed, and learn from the novel solutions they have developed and adopted.” Tommy Charles. Tommy (left) coordinating field mapping. Credit: Tommy Charles. ----------- Taiwo Ogunwumi, Founder & Project Lead, GRMI. Slum Dwellers International (SDI) is a global network of informal settlement residents working to create inclusive, resilient cities where their lives are substantially improved. For the past two years, we have collaborated with SDI through the Sierra Leone Federation of the Urban and Rural Poor (FEDURP) on the KnowYourCity (KYC) programme. Having seen firsthand the opportunities that drone mapping unlocks through our drone pilot training program, SDI is now incorporating drone imagery as a core component of its KYC data work. “This project goes beyond Senegal and our organization. It could impact the entire sub-region, or even all of Africa. We plan to share it with other organizations.” Socioeconomic Infrastructure Map from the village the Orefonde Although usually managed by different departments, health, education, and child protection are closely linked sectors that benefit from collaborative approaches. In the Matam region of Senegal, local partners recognized that they could benefit from interconnected geospatial data across these sectors to support effective infrastructure planning and to meet the needs of rural communities. We partnered with Tostan and OSM Senegal to address “Producing data alone is not enough; transforming open data into accessible, decisionready tools, such as interactive dashboards and story maps, is what truly bridges the gap between mapping and real-world impact.” SENGAL FREETOWN CITY DRONE MAPPING FREETOWN CITY, SIERRA LEONE MARCH 2025 - JULY 2025 Freetown’s mayor, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, participated in drone flying training activities Aberdeen 14 Elena Bonometti, Executive Director, Tostan SIERRA LEONE in Crab Town, SDI/FEDURP members participate in our pilot training program. collection, analysis, and visualization using HOT’s tech tools. From the resulting maps, participants gained valuable insights for planning, such as the relationship between geographic distance and school dropout rates. During the training, they also created thematic maps to improve access to community social services and child protection, which have been distributed to various key stakeholders, including healthcare posts and community centers. Freetown City faces significant hurdles stemming from rapid, unplanned growth, particularly in informal settlements, and from disaster risks posed by a steep, flood-prone landscape. Looking for up-todate, detailed geospatial data to support them in overcoming these hurdles, Freetown City Council (FCC) partnered with us and key civil society organizations, including the National Commission for Persons with Disability (NCPD), OSM Sierra Leone, FEDURP/CODOHSAPA, and Slum Dwellers International (SDI). Together, we trained city staff and residents, including women and people with disabilities, to serve as drone pilots who captured and processed 5 cm-resolution imagery covering 80 km² of the city. FCC now uses the imagery for urban planning, including taxation, flood mitigation, and waste management. We also produced accessibility assessments across six settlements, analyzing transport routes for persons with disabilities to advance more inclusive urban planning. All equipment was transferred to the FCC, and now Freetown hosts one of the first city-wide Open Drone Crews, giving the city ongoing autonomy over its own aerial data collection. 15
Photo top Khartoum Interactive Damage Assessment in Conflict Environments from 2026 using OSM buildings. Photo top View of building footprints added in southern Lebanon during the H2H project of 2025. Photo bottom DATA-DRIVEN RECOVERY South Lebanon Following the escalation of conflict in October 2024, the region faced severe destruction of homes and public services. To provide an updated building footprint for damage assessments, we mobilized 357 volunteers who contributed over 319,000 edits to OpenStreetMap between November 2024 and March 2025. The resulting dataset captured 65% more buildings in key districts than the leading machinelearning alternatives, a critical advantage for early damage assessments, which risk underestimating destruction when built on incomplete basemaps. We also conducted capacity-building sessions with local GIS professionals who can support the reconstruction of schools, hospitals, and water systems and partnered with local entities, such as the Lebanon Reforestation Initiative and the American University of Beirut to host mapping events. Finally, we compared how different damage-assessment methodologies have produced significantly different estimates of damage in Southern Lebanon, leading to the publication of our report “Lebanon - Informing humanitarian response: A guide to remote sensing analyses of conflict damage”, in which we offer recommendations to navigate the resulting variance. View of digitized building footprint somwhere in southern Lebanon. CONFLICT AND DISPLACEMENT PROGRAM Photo left Sudan, Lebanon, Gaza Photo depicting a landscape in Sudan with a Tasking Manager like grid. Crises arising from conflict have unique data requirements for humanitarian responders. Our Conflict & Displacement Program aims to close these data needs in conflict-sensitive ways, leading mapping campaigns informed by contributors in affected countries, diaspora communities, and around the world. In September 2025, this work was recognized with a Special Distinction for the Use of Open Source Technology from the Kluz Prize for PeaceTech, highlighting how our work with open geospatial data improves the tracking of damage and conflict impacts and informs recovery needs in places where traditional data infrastructure has collapsed. 16 Photo right Map showing the digitized roads with translated names in Sudan for the Mapping from Exile project. MAPPING FROM EXILE Sudan Nisreen Mahmoud is among the more than 11 million people who fled their homes after the conflict began in Sudan in April of 2023. A seasoned GIS engineer with more than 18 years of experience, she was a key part of the grassroots effort, the Khartoum Reconstruction Initiative (KRI), before joining HOT's effort in 2024. Through the project, which was funded by the H2H Network, Mahmoud mobilized people in the Sudanese diaspora to remotely reconstruct geospatial data lost in the conflict. A total of 468 contributors joined this large-scale mapping effort, which included tracing building footprints, roads, and heritage and cultural sites, including libraries, museums, religious sites, and historical landmarks. Our team also translated road names into English and Arabic, making the data immediately usable for aid logistics and coordination across language barriers. In June 2025, Nisreen was selected as one of HOT's voting members, where she can now influence the organization’s governance. She is the first voting member from Sudan. 17
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